


Curiosity

by waterfallliam



Series: Any Other Way [1]
Category: Robot Series - Isaac Asimov
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Consensual Kink, Feelings, Hand Jobs, Kissing, M/M, Other Characters Are Mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-24 00:44:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10730682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterfallliam/pseuds/waterfallliam
Summary: “Your ingenuity is most attractive, Elijah. And it is not exclusive to your thoughts. There is more to you than your logic, and I wish to know it all.”Elijah gasped, surprised by Daneel’s admission.“Partner Elijah, may I kiss you?”On their first night on Solaria, Elijah and Daneel both reveal how much they have been in each others' thoughts.





	Curiosity

**Author's Note:**

> i cried about these two on public transport. if they can canonically confess their LOVE for each other they may as well have sex okay  
> hope you enjoy x

Plainclothesman Elijah Baley, C-6, awoke quietly and felt disappointed when he realised that he had been dreaming. He’d been dreaming about a case. A case as complex as it was dangerous, and of great importance. And he hadn’t been working it alone: R. Daneel Olivaw had been working it with him.

Elijah saw his chiselled features, bronze hair and smooth skin in his mind’s eye. His skin was so smooth, that were it not for the fine hairs that Elijah knew adorned it, it would seem inhumanly smooth. But they did. 

The dreams had starte d after Daneel had left earth weeks ago. Every morning, Elijah would see Daneel's face. On this particular morning, his first thought was not that Daneel was a robot designed to look like a Spacer, but that he was handsome.

It had become a routine in his life. Every morning Elijah would awake with a longing for the excitement and danger he’d had a taste of, as well as the desire to see Daneel again.

Little did Elijah know that his wish would be fulfilled in less than a year’s time. But he wasn't one to dwell on vague fantasies or vivid dreams. Instead he went about his job and about his life in the same way as he ever had. Yet something was different. Elijah had changed, even if he didn't realise it yet.

He talked to Jessie less; the feelings of romance Elijah thought he’d felt between them had fizzled out somewhere between the first murder and Elijah's promotion. He still cared for her, of course, but as a friend, not a lover. Some days, when his mind wandered, he came close to admitting to himself that maybe, just maybe, there hadn’t ever been any romance there at all. That Elijah had been taught his whole life to be attracted to women, just as he had been taught not to want for anything outside of earth’s cities.

The end of their romantic and sexual relationship occurred three months after Elijah’s promotion. It was mutual. If Elijah was honest with himself, there wasn't much that changed between them afterwards. They decided to stay together though, as friends, and keep the apartment and raise Bentley.

Life in the city grated at Elijah who, more often than not, had his head in the proverbial clouds, contemplating the idea of a C/Fe society somewhere in the stars. He dreamed of a city with endless fields of yeast, of seeing Daneel again, eating with him in the community hall. When his thoughts turned towards foreign suns and landscapes, towards open air and nature’s vast expanse, he faltered. The fear of leaving the city was ever present.

 

 

 

 

 

Elijah did have to leave the city eventually, though. He had to leave earth and all its cities when he found out about his  assignment on Solaria.

To say that seeing Daneel on that spaceship had been a relief was an understatement. Not only had he been a familiar face, but after a few seconds Elijah had realised he wasn’t dreaming. He really was seeing his partner again. It was overwhelming. Then Elijah squashed his feelings down, trying to concentrate on the case–on the information he wasn’t being told–and not on how dearly he wanted to hug Daneel.

 

 

 

 

 

Though Elijah had been deeply annoyed at Daneel's stunt with the car, it had reminded Elijah of the reality of the situation. Daneel was not a man, however much humanity Elijah saw in him. Elijah often wondered just how much humanity Daneel had. He was built like a human, which couldn't be completely inconsequential.

His dreams of Daneel hadn't let up in all those months. In fact, Elijah's thoughts had lingered on him more and more. His pleasant appearance had become overwhelmingly handsome, his strength wasn’t something to be feared anymore, but to be admired. And his logic... his logic was what made him robot. Could he ever experience emotions? More selfishly, Elijah wondered if Daneel could ever return the feelings he had developed for him.

As Elijah lay there in his room on Solaria, surrounded by all that horrid space, he feared he would deviate from his pattern of dreams about Daneel. They had been rather fanciful, but most certainly enjoyable. What ghastly nightmares would this new planet bring him? Elijah feared he was going to flounder in his own vision for an ideal future: he was on a different planet with a robot, but all he felt was fear.

When Elijah closed his eyes he saw the sun, large and shining, brighter than any light in the cities had ever dared to be. It was too terrifying for him to sleep, yet he was too tired not to. So he decided to do the one thing he knew could help: continue to work on the case. For that he needed Daneel.

"Daneel," Elijah called out, hoping none of the other robots would respond. It took a minute, but then there Daneel was, a dark silhouette against the faint light from the hall.

"Yes, Partner Elijah?"

"Daneel, come closer." Elijah had the sudden need to see his face–his bronze, Spacer hair and sharp nose. 

"Is something wrong, partner Elijah?" Daneel asked as he sat down on the edge of Elijah's bed, touching his hand to one of the panels by the bed so that it lit up dimly. Elijah pulled himself up so that he was sitting as well. 

"I was thinking about the case," Elijah said.

"I was considering it as well. The circumstances are most curious." One of Daneel's hands was resting on the covers, just inches away from Elijah's. He wanted to reach out and touch it, to feel if Daneel's skin was as warm as that of another human's. “I must admit, I am eager to resolve this mystery with you.”

“Do I detect curiosity, Daneel?” They had spoken about Daneel’s lack of curiosity before, back on earth. Daneel was built to explore, but had considered curiosity inefficient. Being  a robot, he was built for logic and thus, efficiency.

“Since our case on earth, I have reconsidered. Until one understands all, any piece of information, though it may seem trivial, could be of great importance.”

Interesting. 

"Your newfound curiosity, does it only exist for efficiency?" Elijah asked.

"That depends on one's definition of efficiency."

Elijah hummed, mulling it over. “But like your definition of justice, might it be expanded on? “

Daneel did not cock his head or narrow his eyes like a human would, but Elijah felt more closely scrutinised all the same.

“Are you going to recite the bible again?”

Elijah almost laughed: “No.”

“Efficiency in understanding would mean broadening my definition of understanding, Partner Elijah. I have made that deduction myself. It is so that I realised I can, in fact, be curious.” Daneel said, concluding his line of thought. 

“And how have you been going about doing that?” Elijah asked, unable to hold his own curiosity  back.

"I have been considering certain methods," Daneel said, leaning closer to Elijah, as if he was about to tell him a great secret. 

"What kinds?" Elijah said, his voice a whisper.

"I've been thinking about the human experience. What it means to be human, whether Earther or Spacer."

"Yes," Elijah said, unable to guess where Daneel was headed.

“Your thought processes, Partner Elijah, they continue to fascinate me. You solved the case on earth with more than just logic: with something unique to human experience. If any robot that currently exists may come to understand such thought processes, it would be me.”

“I don’t quite understand, Daneel.” 

“Your ingenuity is most attractive, Elijah. And it is not exclusive to your thoughts. There is more to you than your logic, and I wish to know it all.”

Elijah gasped, surprised by Daneel’s admission.

“Partner Elijah, may I kiss you?”

“May you–why you–“ Elijah hesitated, his hands grasping at his own legs almost painfully. “No one has ordered you to behave like this, have they?” Though Elijah couldn’t see how or why yet, there was always someone at work, some goal that he couldn’t– 

“No, partner Elijah, they have not,” Daneel said. Elijah thought he saw the corners of his eyes soften, but wondered if it was a trick of the light.

“Consent, it’s important. The First Law should override an order here, Daneel,” Elijah said, his thoughts trying to catch up with what was happening. 

“No one had ordered me to behave this way,” Daneel said, as patient as ever. “In fact, the behaviour I’m exhibiting and the thought patterns behind it are somewhat anomalous. I don’t think my makers ever intended or imagined me to develop my additional lines of reasoning–or to pursue humanity in quite this way.”

“Really,” Elijah said, grasping for words. His thoughts were overcome by the desire to lean forward and press his lips Daneel’s. Elijah wanted to kiss him until he forgot which planet he was on.

“But then why make you so–” Elijah thought of Daneel’s cock. He had only glimpsed it, but it had been beautiful. “Why make you so human?”

“I would have to fit in, wouldn’t I?” Daneel said.

Elijah gaped. 

“Elijah, may I kiss you now?” Daneel leaned forward again, so close that they were almost touching. 

“Please,” Elijah whispered, and Daneel closed the space between them. Elijah angled his head so that their noses wouldn’t bump together. 

It was strange at first: a gentle press of lips, only the sound of Elijah’s own breathing. Then Daneel moved, almost cautiously, and Elijah tried to lose himself in the rhythm of lips sliding against each other. 

A strong hand suddenly rested itself on Elijah’s waist, squeezing his love handles a little. Elijah groaned, trying to encourage Daneel. 

“It’s alright Daneel, I trust you,” Elijah murmured. “Hold me.”

Daneel kissed him again, and continued to do so as he nimbly climbed into bed with Elijah, straddling his hips and effectively sitting in his lap. It was as he let his weight rest on Elijah’s thighs that he deepened the kiss. 

“I’ve thought of you often in these past months, Partner Elijah,” Daneel confessed, leaning back after a few minutes. 

“I’ve thought of you, too, Daneel. I’ve realised that I’m–” Elijah hesitated. “Particularly fond of you.”

“Upon seeing you again, it was as if my processes became smoother. I did not expect such an effect.” Coming from a robot, Elijah supposed Daneel was expressing a similar sentiment. “I hold you in the highest regard, Partner Elijah.”

Elijah found it difficult to respond. Daneel was on top of him, his hands were at Elijah’s side, his knees bracketing his thighs, his body holding Elijah against headboard. Elijah felt… safe. The illuminated depth of the room behind them didn’t bother him, not when Daneel was everywhere, holding him close. Especially when Daneel’s hands held him back as he bucked his hips, his cock seeking friction.

“This is pleasurable for you, Partner Elijah?” Daneel asked, his head cocking to the side in a particularly human way.

“Very,” Elijah answered, his breathing laboured. “Don’t worry Daneel, I will tell you if you’re hurting me. I like the feeling of being… held like this.”

“Even when it denies you pleasure?” Daneel asked, glancing down at where Elijah’s trousers were tented.

“It’s a personal preference. For me, it enhances the pleasure.” 

“Partner Elijah, am I correct in stating that you want me to partially restrain you while we have sex?”

“Yes, Daneel. Do you want that, too?”

“The thought of being in control hastens the firing of my positronic synapses in what I believe translates to excitement in humans.”

Elijah grinned and leaned back, taking in Daneel’s features. A shiver ran through him as he became aware that he was the sole focus of Daneel’s attention. Their mission on Solaria could wait until the morning. 

In all the months that they had spent apart, Elijah hadn’t ever believed that something like this could happen. He had foolishly believed Daneel incapable of emotion, like the empty robots that roamed earth’s cities. Never before had Elijah been so happy to be proven wrong.

“Partner Elijah, it’s time to remove our clothes,” Daneel said. Elijah may have been imagining it, but he thought there was an edge to Daneel’s voice that hadn’t been there before. When Daneel let him go to clamber off the bed, he felt the absence of his hard, robotic body.

Elijah followed Daneel off the bed and stripped quickly. It was only once he’d removed everything, did he turn to look at Daneel. He was stepping out of his trousers, their cut presumably Auroran fashion, unlike anything Elijah  had seen on earth.

Daneel was more handsome than Elijah remembered. And he was looking at Elijah very intensely. 

“Lay down on the bed, Partner Elijah.” 

Elijah imagined there was a sort of finality to Daneel’s words. The kind of finality Elijah felt when he reached his station on the expressway or when he walked through his front door. The finality of completely understanding a case and being able to explain all the mechanisms of the crime. Elijah almost felt as if they had been heading towards this moment since they first met. To believe in fate or destiny wasn't Elijah’s personal philosophy. But he believed in logic. Cause and effect with a measure of free will. As he lay there on comfy sheets, Elijah wondered if logic had led them here, to this very moment, from the start.

“If I say the word yeast, then stop immediately Daneel. That's going to be my way of informing you that I’m feeling discomfort in contradiction with the first law.”

“A safeword. I understand Partner Elijah. Mine is gunpowder.”

“Good, good,” Elijah said.

This time, Elijah was prepared as Daneel sat down on his thighs. Elijah watched the languid movements of his body and the way that his cock was already bouncing. Elijah reached out to feel the hard planes of muscle and the soft hairs on his skin, but Daneel caught Elijah’s wrists in his hands before he could. 

“None of that,” Daneel said. He pulled Elijah’s arms above his head and held them to the headboard with one hand. His grip was firm, but was not unpleasant in the slightest. In fact, it was gentle. 

Elijah squirmed, but only to feel how securely he was being held. Daneel’s skin was pleasantly warm. When he leaned in, Elijah felt no breath against his lips, but Daneel’s mouth was warmer still. Daneel’s free hand cupped Elijah’s jaw. Elijah briefly wondered if his stubble bothered Daneel, but soon dismissed the thought as Daneel began to kiss him in earnest. 

As they kissed, Daneel grew more fervent, yet remained just as precise with his movements. Elijah’s head was spinning–how had Daneel become such a good kisser? Elijah groaned into the kiss, relishing the feeling of Daneel moving in sync with him. 

Suddenly, Elijah felt something brush against his cock. Daneel’s hand was still busy angling his head, so it had to be– 

Elijah felt it again, and arousal pulsed through him. He thrust his hips forward and brushed their cocks together again. He didn’t see, but felt, Daneel’s mouth slacken against his for a moment. It seemed to Elijah that Daneel's positronic pathways were being overloaded with stimulus, but of the pleasurable kind. He really had been built like a human.

Of course, being a robot did have it’s advantages. Daneel regained his composure more quickly than Elijah would have been able to. He moved his hand away from Elijah’s face. Elijah thought he heard the sharp sound of a plastic cap opening, but couldn’t be sure due to the quiet moans Daneel was pulling from him.

“This is affecting me more than I ant-ticipated, Partner Elijah,” Daneel said, his words oddly halting. In the corner of his eye, Elijah glimpsed Daneel’s free hand. It glistened. 

“You and me both,” Elijah panted. As he stared up at Daneel, he felt a great surge of affection. It intertwined with his need, but also had Elijah pursuing romantic notions. For a split second, he imagined Daneel grinning. He imagined them doing this, but laying side by side, on Elijah’s bed back on earth. Then he saw the ghastly bright world of the Outside surround them. He was all alone but for the tight grip of Daneel’s hand on his own, which made all the difference. 

“Partner Elijah,” Daneel said and Elijah snapped his eyes open. 

“I can feel your pulse. I can feel every voluntary and involuntary movement of your body against mine. I can feel,” Daneel paused to place his hand around both of their cocks, slick with lube and squeezing gently. “I can feel how much you want this.”

Elijah shuddered, vaguely aware of the thin sheen of sweat that coated his body. 

“It would only increase my pleasure to show you how you are affecting me,” Daneel said, then he began to move his hand up and down.

Elijah bit back a moan, then said: “I have a pretty good idea Daneel.” 

Daneel steadily increased his pace, letting wave after wave of pleasure roll over Elijah. The colour of Daneel’s eyes was a murky grey in the light of the lamp behind Elijah’s head. His face was illuminated from both sides, and Elijah could see every inch of his skin, free of sweat and stubble. Elijah looked at him then, desperately wishing he could be kissing him. When he leaned his head forward, Daneel guessed his intention instantly and closed the gap between them. 

It was amidst the relentless, yet gentle stroke of Daneel’s hand, Daneel’s cock against his own and the heat of Daneel’s mouth that Elijah fell apart. He fell over the edge with a gasp and a drawn out moan, his body writhing with the force of it. It had indeed been a long time since Elijah had done this.

Daneel came mere seconds after Elijah. 

Even through the bliss of his orgasm, Elijah wondered if Daneel was in control of that as well. Daneel let him go and moved to lay beside him. Elijah turned his body to follow him, resting a hand on Daneel’s hip without giving it much thought.

As soon as he felt he could, he opened his eyes again to find Daneel staring at him, the hint of an expression Elijah hadn’t seen before on his face. 

“What is it, Daneel?”

“I don’t think my curiosity is satisfied, Partner Elijah.”

“No?”

“Not by a long shot,” Daneel said and smiled. Jehoshaphat! Daneel Olivaw smiled, and it suited him well. “I suggest we should engage in such, and similar activities more often.”

“Gladly,” Elijah said, suddenly too tired for much more than a few sloppy kisses. 

Daneel got up, cleaned Elijah off with a discarded piece of clothing and turned the covers so that Elijah could sleep with the clean side on him. He slid back in next to Elijah, naked and in no need of sleep. 

“Thank you, Daneel.”

Daneel inclined his head and threaded their fingers together.

“Will you stay, while I sleep?” Elijah asked, fiercely wanting Daneel to say yes. Slowly, Elijah realised: he wanted Daneel to want to be with him. He wanted to have his love be returned. And maybe he could have just that.

“Yes, Partner Elijah, I will stay with you,” Daneel said quietly. 

With that, Elijah Baley drifted off to sleep, his last thought one of serenity.


End file.
